Tract of 35 acres in Westport to be preserved as farmland

A 35-acre farm that stretches from Hixbridge and Horseneck roads to the Westport River will be permanently preserved as farmland.

Grant Welker

A 35-acre farm that stretches from Hixbridge and Horseneck roads to the Westport River will be permanently preserved as farmland.

Known as the Howe Farm, the land was given what is called an agricultural preservation restriction, meaning the property will not be developed as a housing subdivision or other uses, two conservation groups announced.

“Protecting farmland contributes to the overall character of the town,” said Peggy Stevens, the executive director of the Westport Land Conservation Trust.

The trust, along with the Trustees of Reservations, a statewide group, worked to raise money locally through private donations to secure the preservation restriction.

Preservation of the Howe Farm also brings closer to completion a “greenway” between the Westport River and the Slocum’s River in Dartmouth. Only a few properties along that stretch remain until a contiguous path will be conserved between the two waterways, Chris Detwiller, the Trustees of Reservations’ Westport community preservation specialist, said Tuesday.

The Howe Farm also sits amid a 475-acre block of nearly contiguous, protected farmland, including the Westport Rivers winery, which is sits to the west and south of the Howe Farm. Turnips, squash, blueberries and hay are grown on 15 acres on the property.

The preservation restriction was secured for $550,000, of which $450,000 was paid by the state Department of Agricultural Resources. The Westport Land Conservation Trust and Trustees of Reservations raised a $100,000 match through private donations. The funds were paid to the Howe family, which owns the property but agreed to sell the restriction so that it will never be developed.

The Howe Farm brings to 1,900 the number of acres in town protected by conservation restrictions.